Imaging devices capable of printing images upon paper and other media are ubiquitous and used in many applications including monochrome and color applications. For example, laser printers, ink jet printers, and digital printing presses are but a few examples of imaging devices in wide use today for monochrome or color imaging.
Electrophotographic imaging processes utilize a photoconductor which may be electrically charged and then selectively discharged to form latent images. The latent images may be developed and the developed images are transferred to media to form hard images upon the media. Electrophotographic imaging processes may be implemented in laser printer configurations and digital presses in illustrative examples.
One drawback with some electrophotographic systems is the photoconductor may be subjected to contamination resulting from the printing process. More specifically, during printing, a layer of contamination material resulting from the printing process may form upon the photoconductor. If not removed, a relatively thin layer of contamination material (tens of nanometers) may adversely affect print quality. The layer of contamination material may increase lateral conductivity which may, for example, erase dots of the latent images. In some arrangements, the photoconductor may be a consumable which is replaced after a number of impressions have been imaged. More frequent replacement raises the cost of printing.
At least some aspects of the present disclosure are directed towards improved hard imaging devices and imaging methods.